Top tips when choosing artwork for your home

Choosing the right colour, room, frame and much more

1. Colour

It’s important to consider colour when choosing the perfect artwork for your home. The colour should harmonise with the colour of your room – one idea is to select a couple of the boldest colours in your room and look for art that contains these colours. They don’t have to be exactly the same colour, but the similarity in the colours will make it clear that the artwork belongs in the room.

Colour wheels can be used to generate colour schemes, and to give you insight into which colours complement each other to contribute to the overall harmony of your room. It shows you how colours relate to each other, and the basics of colour theory which will provide you with inspiration for the colour combinations you might want to look for in the art that your purchase and in other features of your room.

2. Room

The type of room you’re looking to buy artwork for may require specific considerations.

The kitchen, as the often most used room of the house, requires special attention with regards to artwork. Ensuring not to choose a space particularly prone to food splashes or water vapour, the ‘heart of the home’ is best suited for smaller pieces that complement and don’t overwhelm, possibly above cabinets or countertops.

The bedroom’s artwork should reflect relaxation, with the best places for artwork above the bed or on a wall opposite the bed. It’s best not to use extravagant frames here and keep the focus on the art, using large scale pieces at eye level with soothing colours.

The living room is what guests will see the most, and so setting the right ambience can seem intimidating. Having either one large piece or a wide gallery wall is the best idea for maximum impact. Here it’s important to find something unique, that reflects you.

3. Scale

You’ll want to make sure a tiny artwork isn’t placed on a big white wall, and that a large art piece doesn’t overwhelm a room. A large piece, however, if minimalist enough, won’t necessarily overwhelm a smaller room if done carefully – it’s to do with the impact of the artwork. If you intend to move house or might want to move the artwork around, it might be a good idea to choose pieces that are between 30cm and 120cm, which are generally easy to accommodate.

4. Trust your instincts

The artwork in your home should be something that makes you feel a certain way. It should never be something that you merely like. Your art will produce a certain dimension and quality to your space, which will be shared by your guests and family and may even become associated with you among your close circles. This is why it should be a personal decision, and your instincts will often be an indicator of your inner feelings about a piece. Your home artwork is where you should make less conscious decisions and let your heart tell you what to choose.

5. Contrast bold and minimal

There’s nothing wrong with choosing a bold centrepiece for your space, but it’s important to recognise that in order for the piece to retain its impact but for the room to not be overwhelmed, other elements of your room should be downplayed, such as colour choices for curtains or furniture.

6. Get to know the artist

In order to fully understand the inspiration behind a piece of art, its intent and the context that surrounds it, you should get to know the artist. Contemporary galleries offer artist profiles online.

Find out more about our artists by visiting their pages on our website.

7. Frames

It’s important to take into account the best way to frame the photo that you like, and how this will fit in with the space you’re going to put it in. Check out our blog post about how to frame your artwork for more tips on this.

8. Commission

If you see a piece you like, but something minor such as the size of colour scheme doesn’t meet your requirements, ensure that you ask the gallery if they can make a commissioned piece for you. As long as your requirements don’t intervene with the artist’s creativity, this is a great way to bag the perfect centrepiece for your home.

9. Be flexible

Be ready to move furniture around, remove patterned wallpaper, or repaint your walls with a neutral colour in order to get the most out of your artwork. The artwork may be better suited to a different place from the one you thought of originally, and you may need special lighting, but this could be well worth it if it means that you are able to correctly display a piece of art that you love.